It is well known in a large work environment to define a group work space that may be divided or otherwise arranged to create one or more work areas for use by individual workers or small groups of workers. Work areas are commonly configured to form one or more workstations, by arrangement of one or more articles of furniture, such as panel walls, worksurfaces, storage units, chairs or seating products, etc., typically in a manner intended to support workers in a wide variety of individual and group activities. Typically, such known arrangements are not optimally suited for use in a dynamic work environment, where individual and team spaces are ideally capable of rapid configuration and reconfiguration by the workers themselves in a highly efficient manner, as needed for varied sets of individual or group activities. Recently, these dynamic work environments characterized by the need for flexibility, reconfigurable work areas, and the ability to support a wide variety of activities of both individual workers and project teams of varying sizes, have become prevalent and typically include more mobile forms of such articles of furniture.
All of these work spaces typically are required to accommodate a flow of information, often presented in the form of documents, that is created, used or shared by the workers. Indeed, in known work environments, it is well known to provide for the display of information to support the individual or collaborative activities of one or more workers. A fundamental purpose of any system for the display of information is to facilitate “information persistence”—to provide an organizational framework for the presentation of information that freely enables the collection of information, the presentation of information, and the retention of information as it becomes meaningful or useful to an individual or group. This purpose is best served by a system that allows current information to be prominently displayed and readily accessible. However, known arrangement for the display of information in any work environment, which typically utilize both vertical surfaces and horizontal surfaces provided within the work environment, do not fully achieve this or other purposes that are desirable. This is particularly true in a dynamic work environment.
In some typical work environments it is very common to display information on “fixed” or “static” vertical surfaces, such as full-height walls, partial-height panel walls, or the like. Fixed walls typically provide for the territorial division of the work space, and incidentally provide a stable vertical surface for the prominent display of information (e.g. space for “tiling” of information). However, because the amount of vertical wall surfaces available for use to display information is limited, the volume of information that can be displayed is limited. Moreover, fixed walls are not readily reconfigurable to form work areas since reconfiguration of the work space is generally a time-consuming and labor-intensive process beyond the capability of the workers themselves and requiring a substantial amount of advance planning and the use of tools and other equipment. Because fixed walls are effectively immobile and are not typically positioned for the display of information, their efficiency is further limited. In addition, the commonly known methods of presenting information on fixed walls of such known arrangements, for example, do not provide an organizational framework well suited to achieve an optimal degree of information persistence. In many instances, according to commonly known arrangements, the visual effect or “scenery” provided in the work environment by information displayed on vertical walls and surfaces tends to be static and constantly “on display,” rarely being refreshed or interchanged for example, when placing charts in relatively inaccessible locations. In other instances, manner in which the information displayed on the vertical surface renders it fleeting and easily defaced, for example when information is written on a white board. That is, fixed walls are not able to adequately achieve optimum “information persistence” attributes, or to support the reconfigurability necessary in a dynamic work environment.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide for a utility distribution system for use in a work environment that facilitates the efficient use, display and storage of information in the work environment. It would also be advantageous to provide for an information display system that more effectively facilitates “information persistence”—the collection and retention of information meaningful to an individual or group—so that information is readily available and can be “revealed” when needed and yet can be “concealed” and conveniently stowed away securely when not needed. It would further be advantageous to provide for a workstation using the information display system and associated structures (such as a utility distribution system) in order to create work areas that can be readily configured and reconfigured for use by individual workers, small groups or workers and large groups or workers. It would further be advantageous to provide for a work environment including the information display system (and the utility distribution system) so that workstations and work areas can dynamically be configured and reconfigured. It would further be advantageous to have an information display system for use in a work environment that allows the efficient and complete transformation of the visual context of a work space or workstation during transitions between projects, tasks and personal respites in the course of a work day or work week.
It would be desirable to provide for a utility distribution system having one or more of these or other advantageous features.